Download Globalization and Statehood File

States and statehood in world politics

They have been the fundamental building blocks of
modern world politics. They are the core politicalorganizational units.

Nation-states; the assumption is that some sort of social

Statehood; fulfilling two different and sometimes

This is the central problematique or analytical puzzle of
the modern world system itself.
and economic, grass-roots ‘nation’ had either pre-existed,
or been constructed from above or below and justified
through nationalism, to underpin and empower state
institutions and political processes.
conflicting functions, domestic and international,
simultaneously. (‘Two-level games’)
Some more powerful older nation-states like Britain, France,
Germany and, the United States have been seen to have
comparative institutional advantage in terms of embodying
‘statehood’ related with their;
 Long-term historical development
 Their relative wealth and power in an industrializing world
 Their governments increasing bureaucratization and state
intervention and regulation to promote economic growth,
prosperity and welfare(Foucault has called this ‘biopolitics’)
 Their inhabitants 'sense of common sociological or
ideological identity or belonging, whether instilled and
indoctrinated from above or spontaneously emerging from
below.
(Beeson and Bisley, 2013, Chp 3, p.31)

strong centralizing institutions,

political processes,

economic development,

cultural identity.
Failed or collapsed states are seen as failing
to fulfil those requirements of statehood.







Globalization presents a challenge to this modern
‘multifunctional’ conception of the state and
statehood where state itself is being stretched,
relocated, broken up and put back together in new
ways
integration of global markets and production chains
rapid technological innovation
the growth of multilevel governance
the convergence of economic policies around
varieties of neoliberalism
the increasing influence of transnational interest
groups and social movements
the emergence of a global village linking societies
and identities across borders
Globalization led to a high level of
interdependence of economic, political and social
processes across borders and make it more
difficult to make policies in isolation.
 ‘Multi-level governance’ is a new way of policymaking in a highly globalized world.
(1) More formal international regimes, institutions
and quasi –supranational bodies( UN, IMF, the
World Bank, the World Trade Organization, EU)
(2) Less formal transnational processes are also
emerging( G7/8, G20)


Uncertain and contested but would result
with a more complex form of world politics
that is multi-level.




Paradoxically, the development of the modern state has historically gone
hand in hand with the long-term globalization of the modern politics
and the international economy
The nation-state form is linked with the concept of modernity(
conceived to be ‘higher’ forms of organizational, institutional and socioeconomic development in contrast to the village societies, tribal
societies, city states, multilayered feudal and warlord-dominated
societies, federations and confederations of various kinds, and empires)
The territorial integrity of the states and non-intervention in the internal
affairs of other states have become the fundamental organizing doctrine
of an international system rooted in the de jure sovereignty and de facto
autonomy of states
They were products of discourse, manipulation and institutionalizationthe cornerstone of a wider project of political modernization.
The state is both a structured field of
institutionalized power on the one hand and
a structured playing field for the exercise of
social and personal power on the other.
State as a structured field of
institutional power
 A set of generally accepted
‘rules of the game
 The distribution of resources
in a particular society
 A dominant ideology
 The capacity of the state to use
force, whether ‘the monopoly
of legitimate violence(Max
Weber) or a range of legal,
economic and social sanctions,
to impose particular decisions
and ways of doing things upon
both individuals and society as
a whole.
(p.37)
State as a structured playing field


The state is populated by a
range of actors within and
around the state apparatus.
These ‘state actors’ make
decisions and attempt to
impose outcomes on non-state
actors.




States are differentiated organizations, distinct
from families, churches, classes, races and the
like; from economic institutions like firms or
markets; and from non-state political
organizations such as interest and pressure
groups.
States are discrete and autonomous. That means
they are not subordinate to, nor incorporated
within, nor morphologically determined by other
organizations, institutions or structures.
The state stands on its own.
The state is also a contested concept.
The state can be seen as contested on at least three
levels.
(1)State is an economically contested organization.
Fairness and justice vs. material criteria and relations
of profit, exchange and economic efficiency
(2)State is a socially contested organization.
Class, clans, ethnicity, religion, geography, gender
and ideology divisions within the state
(3)State is a politically contested organization
Strong states at both levels in the sense that they can
be rooted in widely accepted social identities and
bonds with effective and efficient institutions. The
opposite means they are politically contested.

Organizational issues related with how states
work both internally and externally(and in
between) in this more complex environment